The Golden Triangle committee for the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) will host its annual banquet at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 9 in the Hogarth Dining Center. Doors will open at 6 p.m.
The banquet will culminate the area committee’s annual fundraising campaign. Committee member Tavetia Hughes said the goal for the 2014 campaign, which began in August, is $60,000.
Johnnie B. Watson, president of LeMyne Owen College in Memphis, will be the guest speaker.
Hughes said the committee has worked for more than 30 years to raise scholarship funds for students to attend historically African-American colleges. Mostly, those scholarships help students attend the 38 UNCF member schools — including Rust College and Tougaloo College in Mississippi — but Hughes said the fund also helps students with tuition at several other historically black colleges nationwide.
“This is very critical,” Hughes said. “A lot of students can’t afford college tuition, and tuition is constantly going up.”
Tickets for the banquet are $30 and can be purchased by calling 662-328-2257 or 662-328-3960. Deadline to purchase tickets is Monday.
No matter how large or small, Hughes said every donation to UNCF matters.
“It’s very important that organizations, businesses, churches, fraternities and sororities donate to the United Negro College Fund,” she said. “There’s no amount too small. Whatever amount you want to give will help a young man or woman afford to go to college.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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